Lecture nights reveal the physics of Angels & Demons

The particle physics community is taking a walk down the red carpet, and invites everyone to join in.

On May 15, 2009, Sony Pictures Entertainment will release Angels & Demons, a major motion picture based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel. Starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard, the film focuses on an apparent plot to destroy the Vatican using antimatter made at the Large Hadron Collider and stolen from the European particle physics laboratory CERN.

Through a series of public lectures, scientists are using this opportunity to tell the world about the real science of antimatter, the Large Hadron Collider and the excitement of particle physics research. Across the United States and Canada, scientists from more than 30 colleges, universities and national laboratories will host public lectures as part of the “Angels & Demons Lecture Nights: The Science Revealed” event. More information about the series, including a list of lectures and local contacts, is available at www.uslhc.us/Angels_Demons.

Worldwide, scientists working on experiments at the Large Hadron Collider will host lectures and other Angels & Demons-related events for press and the public. Lectures are planned at particle physics institutions across Europe, Asia, Central and South America. For more information on the LHC, visit CERN’s Web site at www.cern.ch.

U.S. participation in the Large Hadron Collider project is supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.

Canadian participation in the Large Hadron Collider project is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the National Research Council of Canada.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world’s leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.

The team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for the highly anticipated Angels & Demons, based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. Ron Howard returns to direct the film, which is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and John Calley. The screenplay is by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman.

What terrifying discovery would make the Vatican turn to Robert Langdon, the man who cracked history’s most controversial code? When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati – the most powerful underground organization in history – he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization’s most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. Upon learning that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, Langdon travels to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow the 400-year-old Path of Illumination that marks the Vatican’s only hope for survival.

About Sony Pictures Entertainment

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